FIR Podcast Network

We begin with sad news this week: Tech PR veteran Alan Weinkrantz (right) was killed in a freak auto accident in Israel. He was a positive, upbeat guy and one of the great PR reps in the tech business. Our condolences go out to Alan’s family.

Tribune Publishing Co. changed its name to “tronc Inc.,” announcing the change in a press release that the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple dubbed the “worst in the history of journalism.” The announcement didn’t mention news or journalism, raising questions about just what tronc is. Its goal of producing 2,000 daily videos is yet another indication of the changes that are taking news publishing multi-platform, with each story, video and native ad courting its own audience. In our next show we’ll discuss what Jeff Bezos is doing at the Post.

Special Guest: James Mathewson

James Mathewson is a prolific author, digital marketing expert, search engine aficionado and editor-in-chief of IBM.com. He’s also co-author of the new book Outside-In Marketing with Mike Moran, who joined us on FIR B2B 41.

James is an expert at using data to understand how customers think so that you can align messages to explicitly and implicitly stated needs. Data can be used to learn about customer priorities and journeys from things like keyword choices and browsing paths. That can be translated into content that defines a brand in terms of their their needs. The free Google AdWords can yield a bounty of information about the terms people use and the hidden priorities that are visible in their searches.

Using the wrong terms can sabotage your marketing efforts. James tells of how IBM’s “banned word list” at one time required use of the term “notebook” to describe its portable computers, even though customers overwhelmingly searched for the term “laptop.” It has changed that rule subsequently.

Take a staged approach toward learning to speak like customers, he advises. Marketers need to use the language of customers and prospects to define their brands. But new terms can be introduced if they’re mapped to existing ones.

One of the ways IBM did this was with “cognitive computing,” a term that got about five Google searches a month in 2011. Rather than pounding on a term that nobody used, IBMers focused on the words people were already using to describe similar concepts. By guiding people toward the new term, the company was able to grow “cognitive computing” searches to 1,400 per month in only about a year. “Smarter Planet” is another outstanding example of IBM branding success.

Follow James Mathewson on Twitter.

This week we welcome David Strom (right) as the new co-host of FIR B2B. Dave replaces Eric Schwartzman, whose new job doesn’t permit him the time to continue on a regular basis. We hope Eric will continue to join us occasionally.

The big news this week is that Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, or nine times LinkedIn’s annual revenues. Executives from both companies enthused about the potential of the deal during this morning’s analyst call, saying that the ability to mix LinkedIn’s rich member profile information with Microsoft’s analytic and workflow tools will be a game-changer for big data-driven customer engagement.

On the other hand, it could be an expensive distraction for Microsoft at a time when it really needs to focus on its business turnaround. Most people seem to think LinkedIn got a good deal in selling out for all cash and retaining most of its independence as a Microsoft operating unit. The jury is still out on whether Microsoft fared as well. The company has a mixed track record in acquisitions and a poor one when it comes to big purchases. The CEOs of both companies were positively effusive about the deal’s potential in their analysts call, however.

Our co-hosts are split. Paul sees a lot of upside for Microsoft if it can realize even part of the vision it outlined this morning. David thinks LinkedIn’s data quality issues and rocky relationship with developers could be a pothole. We shall see, right?

Special Guest: Darian Shirazi, CEO, Radius

Darian Shirazi founded Radius Intelligence Inc. in 2009, when he was just 22 years old. Previously, he was one of the first employees at Facebook, where he worked directly for CEO Mark Zuckerberg. At 29, he is already a well-respected CEO in Silicon Valley. Radius sells predictive marketing tools and services. It  maintains voluminous amounts of information about some 22 million businesses that it analyzes to help its marketing customers identify their best prospects.

Predictive marketing begins with traditional “firmographic” data, Shirazi tells us, but then combs through large amounts of data from many prospective customers to compare them to the characteristics that marketers identify as ideal customers and find the best prospects. Radius also helps marketers better focus their marketing campaigns and hone their messages. Follow him on Twitter.

Connected Futures from Cisco Systems is one of a growing new breed of branded B2B publications that suppresses branding and messaging in favor of useful executive content. The frequently updated site is aimed at C-level executives and covers a wide range of strategic topics related to the connected world. Contributors include seasoned business journalists, authors, strategists and business executives. Only a small amount of content is Cisco-branded.

Editor-in-chief Stefanie McCann says the Connected Futures theme aligns well with Cisco’s strategy, but the company knew that a heavy-handed marketing approach would never attract the audience Cisco seeks. That’s why the focus is on helping them navigate the interconnected world without bludgeoning them with sales pitches. Busy Connected Futures readers need brief, actionable advice in formats they can consume on the go. That’s one reason why podcasts are a core content element.

McCann shares some of her experience from a year of leading Connected Futures about what works with senior executives. And she invites listeners to submit ideas and story pitches to her directly.

McCann is a seasoned journalist and event organizer who spent 12 years at Computerworld and seven years at TechTarget, where she oversaw many of the company’s executive events. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Online communities are a staple of B2B companies. They enable customers to support each other, provide valuable feedback on products and services and can even be leveraged to help in product development and marketing. Leader Networks’ Big List of online customer communities documents more than 100 examples of B2B companies that are using these valuable resources, covering industries as varied as plumbers, baristas and dentists.

Vanessa DiMauro (left) is the CEO of Leader Networks, a research and strategy consulting company that helps organizations succeed in social business and online community building. She is a popular advisor, author and speaker who has more than 20 years of experience in social business leadership positions. She’s also an expert on social selling and B2B applications of social media.

In this week’s interview Vanessa discusses best practices in B2B online communities and how they can shape the culture of an organization as well as generate revenue. Follow Vanessa on Twitter.

We’re back after a three-month hiatus during which some business priorities took precedence.

Content marketing is the latest marketing buzzword, and it has a lot of marketers scared. The most recent annual survey by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs reported that while 88% of North American B2B marketers say they use content marketing, only 30% believe they are effective at it.

The result is, as Forrester Research reported, 65 percent of business decision makers consider the content they get from vendors to be useless.

Part of the problem is that marketers have not been trained in the skills that they are now expected to master to create compelling content. After all, marketing has always been about delivering a message, not enticing a customer to find you.

But marketers do have an ally they can turn to to help them become good content marketers: big data. Now if those two words strike fear into your heart, then you should read Outside-In Marketing: Using Big Data to Guide your Content Marketing, the new book by James Mathewson and this week’s guest, Mike Moran. This book won’t baffle you with jargon; it spells out metrics you can use to constantly test the effectiveness of your content and make it better. And it’s written in terms anyone can understand.

Mike Moran has a rare combination of skills. A retired IBM Distinguished Engineer with 11 patents related to search and retrieval technology, he now teaches marketers how to use content to attract and retain customers. Mike launched his own content marketing consultancy in 2006, shortly after co-authoring the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (now in its third edition). He’s also the author of Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules. In addition to teaching and consulting worldwide, he’s also a senior strategist at digital media marketing consultancy Converseon. He previously spoke to us on FIR B2B #28.

Follow Mike Moran on Twitter.

Top executives often say they don’t have time to tend their LinkedIn profiles or to engage on Twitter, but they’re missing a little-understood opportunity of these platforms: connection points. Executives spend a lot of time meeting with customers and business partners, who routinely research them before they meet. The media is also interested in knowing more about the executives whom journalists cover. It’s it worth a half-hour of a senior manager’s time to prepare a social profile that offers deep insight into their interests and passions? Doesn’t that make it easier for their constituents to learn more about them and establish trusted relationships? In a recent Biznology post, Paul outlined “Five often-overlooked reasons senior executives should use social media.” He summarizes that post and makes his case at the top.

This week’s guest is Andy DeBrunner, an account planner and social media strategist at Godfrey, a 68-year-old marketing agency that works exclusively with B2B clients. Godfrey doesn’t deal with many tech firms; most of its clients are in old-line heavy industries like manufacturing and construction equipment. But that doesn’t mean they can’t get value from social media.

In our interview, Andy describes some particularly creative campaigns his company has done for makers of refuse-hauling and construction equipment, among others. He also outlines the five most common profiles of social media marketers he encounters, ranging from the “apprentice” (client has some level of social media presence but doesn’t know what it’s doing for them) to the “one night stand” (client doesn’t want a program, just one-time promotion). He has yet to encounter a client that can’t benefit from being more social.

If you want a great example of a LinkedIn profile summary, check out Andy’s. We won’t spoil the surprise, but let’s just say it’s original. Follow him on Twitter.

Tony Karrer (l.) and Tom Pick launched B2B Marketing Zone in 2009 and have turned it into one of the most useful sources of information about its namesake topic on the Internet. B2B Marketing Zone is an aggregation site and newsletter that selects articles and blog posts from nearly 200 contributors. It has 50,000 subscribers and sends buckets of traffic to the authors it syndicates.

The site is build on the Aggregage platform developed by Karrer, a veteran chief technology officer who has a Ph.D. in computer science. Aggregage is an example of how technology and marketing are merging to create individualized experiences for customers and build brand value by amplifying others’ voices. Tony has consulted with some of the world’s largest companies, helping them get their web/mobile strategies in gear.

Tom Pick is an award-winning digital marketing consultant who has helped clients ranging from single-person businesses to billion-dollar  corporations improve their online visibility, web traffic, visitor engagement, and lead generation. He writes about content and social media marketing topics on the Webbiquity blog. Although some people say blogging has become less relevant with the growth of social networks and publishing platforms like Medium, Tom still gets plenty of value out of the traffic and relationships he generates with his blog.

In this interview we discuss the value of aggregation and how to get value from organizing and promoting other people’s content. Tom and Tony also offer advice on how to use tried-and-true aggregation tactics to generate visibility and business, such as their new B2B Marketing Trends for 2016 e-book.

Follow Tom (@TomPick) and Tony (@B2bMarketingZ) on Twitter.

Your marketing organization gathers leads from an assortment of sources and throws them over the wall to sales, which gripes about lead quality. Cold calling continues to be an important source of new leads, despite the fact that it’s notoriously inefficient. Sales and marketing don’t cooperate, creating suspicion and undermining effectiveness.

Sound familiar? It’s the way a lot of B2B companies operate. Generating new business is one of the toughest tasks sales and marketing groups confront, and the traditional techniques are typically slapdash. That’s why account-based marketing (ABM) is what some people are calling the next big thing in B2B marketing.

ABM focuses intensive marketing efforts around a small number of prospect companies. Marketing and sales teams work together to learn all they can about who the key influencers are within those organizations and to target messages to them over the long term that are personalized to their interests. ABM pays particular attention to existing customers on the assumption that generating repeat business is more efficient than finding new customers. Relationship building is fundamental to the discipline, as is the use of analytics, marketing automation and traffic analysis.

Last year Jon Miller (left) left Marketo, the marketing automation giant he co-founded in 2006, to launch Engagio, a company that builds tools for account-based marketing. In this interview he defines ABM, contrasts it with traditional marketing and offers guidance on how to get started with this more focused and efficient sales tactic.

Follow Jon Miller on Twitter.

A new study by Accenture finds that half of the 50 large B2B companies it surveyed get less than 10 percent of their revenue from online sales. The biggest barrier to success is resistance to change by customers and internal sales teams.

These companies are leaving money on the table, says Bob Barr (left), managing director and global B2B commerce lead at the consulting firm. Even in complex, high-touch businesses, companies can realize significant savings by getting the order-takers out of the process. And even complex sales often have after-market transactions for things like supplies and components. There’s no reason people need to be involved in that process.

Perhaps most importantly, there’s abundant evidence that customers who buy online tend to spend more and bargain less. Finally, the next generation of buyers fully expect to conduct business electronically.

In this interview, Barr discusses the cultural factors that hold back B2B companies from taking better advantage of e-commerce and offers recommendations for how they can overcome internal and external resistance.

A new report says companies will spend $100 billion on content marketing by the end of this year and may triple spending in that area over the next few years in a quest to increase the volume of content they produce and thereby gain attention. But is more information what customers and prospects really want? Our hosts aren’t so sure. The report notes, for example, that 35% of content marketers admit they really don’t know what information customers need.

The “Industrial Marketing Today” blog has an interesting post about How Industrial Companies are Stuck on SEO for Content Marketing Strategy. Achinta Mitra makes the point that the new Google is far smarter than the one many search marketers are targeting. The search engine is now intelligent enough to figure out why users want the information they seek, not just what keywords they use. That’s an important nuance that search marketers need to consider. If you’re just optimizing for keywords, you’re missing the bigger picture and probably seeing diminishing results as well.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has put out a 12-page social media policy that goes into detail on what its 15,000 people can say in social networks. The agency had to walk the line between encouraging advocacy and not running afoul of other rules governing the workplace. Eric goes into detail on how the FDA threads this needle. Paul thinks the policy is dense, restrictive and overly wordy, but Eric says any policy that targets such a large and diverse employee population needs to take into account all possibilities.